Singing, More Than Just A Hobby

HONOLULU — Local boy, Timothy Vigilla is not your average college student because he is also the leader singer in a reggae band called Everyday Aloha.

With being a full-time student at UH, as well as being the band’s lead singer and ukulele player, Vigilla is always juggling multiple responsibilities. Vigilla says that time-management helps him stay on top of all of his tasks.

“It’s kinda hard doing homework at the same time, but if you just manage your time wisely it’s not that bad,” Vigilla said.

Bandmates as friends

Although it’s a lot of work, Vigilla enjoys being in the band because his bandmates are also his close friends.

“It’s fun being in practice or the gig and everybody’s just having fun and being goofballs around each other,” Vigilla said. “But we’re still serious about our music at the same time.”

Walker (left) and Vigilla (right) practicing.

Bandmember, Jabriel Walker enjoys being in the band with Vigilla because they have a lot of fun.

“I thank God for my other friend that introduced us because I really love playing with Tim and everyone else too in the band,” the keyboard player said.

Disagreements arise

Although Vigilla plays in a band with his friends, disagreements still sometimes occur. He says that coming back to the problem later is how they resolve their differences.

Jabriel Walker, keyboard player/back vocals

“It’s usually when we have problems in a song, where we don’t know if we should do one thing or another,” Vigilla said. “We try to put it off until later, then come back to it when we have a better idea on what we want to do.”

“Other people are gonna have their opinions, they’re going to clash,” Walker said. “Overall, you just gotta be open to everyone’s opinion or their reasons of why they want to do a certain thing.”

Band success

Vigilla is currently a junior at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is pursuing his Bachelor of Arts in voice. Vigilla says that his major also helps him to improve his band.

“Being music major really helps because having classes like music theory, really helps you see what you’re doing on paper as well,” Vigilla said. “You can really feel the music when you play it, but being able to see it and understand what you’re doing can really help you make more music.”

Walker says the success of the band has changed Vigilla in a positive way.

“It made him more headstrong and it made him more focused on what needs to be done,” Walker said. “Because he was a very timid guy, lovable guy, and if you didn’t know him you would think he’s soft-spoken.”

Love for music

Vigilla says that he has been passionate for music for many years now.

Vigilla playing the ukulele.

“I think I found my voice a little bit more in high school, but I’ve been playing instruments since I was like elementary, middle school,” Vigilla said. “Just a fun thing to do, a fun hobby that I like to keep.”

Although Walker says he does’t really care for the big “band thing,” he still enjoys being in Everyday Aloha with Vigilla.

The band tried to get discovered by doing gigs and playing at different events and parties.

“We had a few songs that we were trying to write and somewhere along the lines, someone called us to come in and just to talk about music,” Vigilla said. “Eventually it escalated pretty quickly.”

The band’s debut album consists of 12 songs. Vigilla says they got their inspiration for songs from personal experiences.

“Experiences from friends, some of our band members as well, they had some experiences,” Vigilla said. “They shared with me, and tried to put things together into songs.”

The band formed in 2009 when its members were still in high school, but Vigilla says that he would still be interested in music even if the band never came together.

“Before the band happened, music was still one of my favorite hobbies,” Vigilla said. “I loved to play guitar, ukulele, and I feel like whatever I wanted to do in life, music would’ve been there for me.”